‡

Notes on Filosofia

1
 UPPER LOWER SMALL CYRILLIC
CASE CASE CAPS

 Aa Aж ‡ M A N UA L E
FILOSOFIA
 Aa Aж ‡  

ZUZANA LICKO

 Aa Aж ‡
‡
VOLU M E ON E .

  Aa

  Aa ‡
 Aa ‡ BERKELEY

   

MMXIX.

2 3
 FILOSOFIA

BEFORE THE AGE OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS, when designer

ABCDEFGH
I JK LM NOP QR
Zuzana Licko used to specify typefaces from photo type-
setters’ style books, her favorite typeface was Bodoni.
She was attracted to its clean lines and geometric shapes,
and the variety of headline style choices. However, for

STUV WXYZ
HEADLINE
practical reasons, she often decided against using Bodoni FILOSOFIA
GRAND BOLD
for long texts, as the extreme contrast made it difficult to 19 PT
read at small sizes. LEAD-IN
Since then, there have been many digital font revivals
ab c d e f g hi
FILOSOFIA
BOLD
and reworkings of Bodoni’s typefaces, some of which have SMALL CAPS
12/15 PT
brought to light the numerous variations in Bodoni’s type
TEXT

jkl mn op q r
designs not evident in the earlier photo types. FILOSOFIA
REGULAR
For example, the ITC Bodoni (1994) was released in 12/15 PT
three variants, each optimized for a range of sizes, and CAPTIONS
FILOSOFIA
each with very distinct features, reflecting the variety of

stu vwx yz
REGULAR
8/10 PT
Bodoni’s work.
In fact, Bodoni spent his entire life building a large
collection of over 400 fonts. He started with Fournier’s
types as a model, then studied Didot and Baskerville, and
over time developed a personal style that tended toward
simplicity, austerity and a greater contrast between
123 4 5 6 78 9 0
the vertical stems and hairlines than previously seen,

[(“!?:;$&”)]
resulting in what we know today as the modern face.

Aa Aa
In the preface of his...

              

ITC Bodoni no. 72 roman was based Filosofia echoes Bodoni’s The Filosofia family is designed for text applications.
on Bodoni’s Papale (SALUZZO). Filosofia 3 (SIENA). It is somewhat robust looking with reduced contrast to
withstand the reduction to text sizes.

4 5
 FILOSOFIA

IN THE PREFACE OF HIS Manuale Tipografico, Bodoni

ABCDEFGH
IJKLMNOPQR
mentions “regularity” as one of the four qualities from
which all the beauty of type seems to come. He writes:
“Analyzing the alphabet of any language, one not only can find

STUVWXYZ
similar lines in many different letters, but will also find that
HEADLINE
all of them can be formed with a small number of identical FILOSOFIA
parts combined and disposed in various ways. GRAND BOLD
19 PT
Thus, making equal all that needs no distinction and
LEAD-IN

abcdefghi
marking the differences which are required in the most FILOSOFIA
outstanding way, we finally give the form of every letter fixed BOLD
SMALL CAPS
laws and rules which produce harmony without ambiguity, 12/15 PT
variety without dissonance, and equality and symmetry QUOTE

jklmnopqr
without confusion.” FILOSOFIA
BOLD
10/13 PT
This apparent development toward the geometry of
TEXT
modern face may explain the prevalence of excessively FILOSOFIA

stuvwxyz
REGULAR
geometric Bodoni revivals which may have gone a step 12/15 PT
further in this progression than Bodoni intended.
Bodoni’s many fonts also included small increments
in sizes, sometimes down to half point sizes. As was
common practice at the time, each size varied in design
to accommodate the effects of the printing process. The
characters comprising small text sizes were slightly
1234567890
widened to accommodate ample counters which resisted
the tendency to clog up, as well as reduced contrast to
ensure that the hairlines would not break up. The display
sizes, in turn, were slightly narrower with more contrast,
[(“!?:;$&”)]
yielding graceful and delicate features which the letter-
press process could only maintain at the larger sizes.
          
This practice disappeared...

6 7
 FILOSOFIA

THIS PRACTICE DISAPPEARED with the introduction of

ABCDEFGH
IJKLMNOPQR
photo type since it became most efficient to simply scale
a single design to the various sizes as needed. Since then,
technical advancements, including improvements in the
printing process itself, have made it less necessary to have

STUVWXYZ
HEADLINE
size specific design variations. However, it does remain FILOSOFIA
GRAND BOLD
a necessity for the optimum legibility of certain designs, 19 PT
such as Bodoni, which were designed for different LEAD-IN
manufacturing and printing processes than those used
abcdefghi
FILOSOFIA
BOLD
today. In fact, the extreme contrast problem of many SMALL CAPS
12/15 PT
Bodoni revivals may be the result of choosing a display
TEXT

jklmnopqr
size for the model, which subsequently cause the hairlines FILOSOFIA
REGULAR
to erode when reduced to small text sizes. 12/15 PT
Although the computer is capable of addressing FOOTNOTE
FILOSOFIA
multiple size masters more readily than photo type did,

stuvwxyz
REGULAR
8/9 PT
optical scaling remains to be added as a standard feature
to the popular type layout programs, and may never,
since most contemporary typefaces which are designed
for today’s technology do not so critically demand such
technical wizardry.*
Because Bodoni created...
1234567890
[(“!?:;$&”)]
           

* To facilitate the use of multiple size masters, Adobe introduced Multiple Master
format in the early 90s, which has since been superseded by OpenType Variable fonts.

8 9
 FILOSOFIA

BECAUSE BODONI CREATED so many variations, many

ABC DE DFGH
IJKLM NOP QR
different Bodoni revivals and interpretations are pos-
sible. However, determining which most truly reflect
Bodoni’s work can be eternally debated.
Filosofia* is Licko’s interpretation of a Bodoni.

STU V W XY Z
HEADLINE
It shows her personal preference for a geometric Bodoni, FILOSOFIA
GRAND BOLD
while incorporating such features as the slightly bulging 19 PT
round serif endings which often appeared in printed LEAD-IN
samples of Bodoni’s work and reflect Bodoni’s origins in
abcdefghi
FILOSOFIA
BOLD
letterpress technology. SMALL CAPS
12/15 PT
The Filosofia family (SEE PAGES 5, 7 & 9) is designed
TEXT

jklmnop qr
for text applications. It is somewhat robust looking with FILOSOFIA
REGULAR
reduced contrast to withstand the reduction to text sizes. WITH BOLD
AND SMALL
The Filosofia Grand family (SEE PAGES 14 & 15) is intended CAPS
12/15 PT
for display applications and is therefore more delicate
and refined. An additional variant, included in the Grand
package, is a Unicase version (SEE PAGE 11) which uses a
single height for characters that are otherwise separated
FOOTNOTE
FILOSOFIA
REGULAR
8/9 PT

CAPTIONS >
stuv w xy z
into upper and lower case. This is similar to Bradbury
123 4 5678 9 0
FILOSOFIA
REGULAR
Thompson’s Alphabet Twenty Six, except that Thompson’s 8/10 PT
goal was to create a text alphabet free of redundancies
such as the two different forms which represent the

[(“!?:;$&”)]
lower case a or upper case A, whereas Filosofia Unicase
does have stylistic variants to provide more flexibility for
headline use.

             
* Filosofia is pronounced Fill-o-SO-fia. It rhymes with Monrovia.
This text was first published, in a slightly different version, in 1996 as part of a Unicase uses a single height for characters that are
promotional poster for Filosofia designed by Vignelli Associates (SEE PAGES 18 & 19). otherwise separated into upper and lower case.

10 11
 a
FILOSOFIA REGULAR

b
FILOSOFIA REGULAR

12
Manuale Tipografico by Giambattista Bodoni, 1818, showing Bodoni's Filosofia 3 (SIENA) CUT, the font
version that inspired Licko's design. Licko designed Filosofia largely from memory. After closely
studying a copy of the Manuale Tipografico at the Bancroft Library in Berkeley, California, she started
her first sketches by drawing directly on the computer using Fontographer (SEE LEFT PAGE).
You can view Licko's laser printout tests and design notes for Filosofia at Letterform Archive in San

-
Francisco. Manuale Tipografico image photographed at Letterform Archive.

“[...] harmony without ambiguity,

variety without dissonance, and equality and
symmetry without confusion.”
— Giambattista Bodoni, Manuale Tipografico, 1818.

13
 ABCDEFGH ABCDEFGH
IJKLMNOPQR IJKLMNOPQR
STUVWXYZ STUVWXYZ
abcdefghi abcdefghi
jklmnopqr jklmnopqr
stuvwxyz stuvwxyz
1234567890 1234567890
[(“!?:;$&”)] [(“!?:;$&”)]
                            

The Filosofia Grand family is intended for display applications

and is therefore more delicate and refined.

14 15
 FILOSOFIA
The following text by Rudy VanderLans was published in Emigre #69, the
final issue of Emigre magazine (2005). It recalls an event from Emigre’s love-
hate relationship with the famed New York designer Massimo Vignelli which
played out during the 1990s. The text was slightly edited for clarity.

I WRITE A LETTER TO Massimo Vignelli. I invite him to design the

promotional poster for Zuzana Licko’s new typeface, Filosofia, which
HEADLINE
is an interpretation of Bodoni, one of Vignelli’s five sacred typefaces. FILOSOFIA
I don’t expect him to respond—not after all the negative things GRAND BOLD
19 PT
he’s said about Emigre over the years—but I simply can’t resist the
temptation. I can’t imagine a better designer to test drive a Bodoni- INTRO
FILOSOFIA
inspired typeface. It would be such a surprise for people if he agreed REGULAR
to do this. 9/10
But he does respond! His letter arrives in an off-white envelope LEAD-IN
with the return address of “Vignelli Associates Designers” printed FILOSOFIA
BOLD
on the back in what looks like red thermal printing. Red thermal SMALL CAPS
printing! I study it closely, and, if I’m not mistaken, it looks like 10/12 PT
the address is set in Vignelli’s own version of Bodoni called “Our TEXT
Bodoni.” This seems like a bad omen. I tear open the envelope, take FILOSOFIA
REGULAR
out the letter, and there, in big capital letters, it says: “Dear Rudy: 10/12 PT
THE WAR IS OVER!” I nearly faint.
CAPTION >
Vignelli anticipates that his involvement will shock the audience FILOSOFIA
and this prospect amuses him. I like the way he thinks. We pay him a REGULAR
8/10 PT
fee of $1,500, which he’ll donate to the AIGA.
During the process, he insists the poster panels should be placed
such that, when unfolding the poster, the reader can view the panels
without rotating the poster.
The poster comes back from the printer. It looks beautiful.
Vintage Vignelli. I unfold it and…I’m horrified. I screwed up the
panel placement on the back of the poster! How did that happen? I
hope Vignelli won’t notice, but of course he does. Fortunately, no new
war breaks out.
Later, people ask us whether we received permission from
Vignelli to use his signature on the poster. They can’t believe he
actually designed it himself. They thought we copied Vignelli and
then added his signature. I’m sure Massimo will be amused.
Letter sent by Massimo Vignelli to Emigre declaring “The War is Over!” 1996.

16 17
,
My Favorite Typeface
Before the age of personal computers,
when I used to spec typefaces out of photo
typesetters’ style books, my favorite
typeface was Bodoni. I was attracted to
its clean lines and geometric shapes, and
the variety of headline style choices.
However, for practical reasons, I often
decided against using Bodoni for long texts,
as the extreme contrast made it difficult to
read at small sizes.
Since then, there have been many
digital font revivals and reworkings of
Bodoni’s typefaces, some of which
It’s their
Bodoni’
Poster to promote the release of Filosofia, designed by Vignelli Associates, 1996.
have brought to light the numerous
variations in Bodoni’s type designs not
evident in the earlier photo types.
For example, the recent ITC Bodoni was
released in three variants, each optimized
for a range of sizes, and each with very
distinct features, reflecting the variety of
Bodoni’s work.
In fact, Bodoni spent his entire life
building a large collection of over 400 fonts.
He started with Fournier’s types as a
model, and over time developed a personal
style that tended toward simplicity,
austerity and a greater contrast between
the vertical stems and hairlines than
previously seen, resulting in what we know
today as the modern face.
18
In the preface of his “Manuale Tipografico”
Bodoni stated: “It is proper here to offer
the four different heads under which
it seems to me are derived the beauties of
type, and the first to these is regularity -
conformity without ambiguity, variety
without dissonance, and equality and
symmetry without confusion.”
This apparent development toward the
geometry of Modern Face may explain the
prevalence of excessively geometric
Bodoni revivals which may have gone
a step further in this progression than
Bodoni intended.
Bodoni’s many fonts also included
small increments in sizes, sometimes
down to half point sizes. As was common
practice at the time, each size varied
in design to accommodate the effects of
the printing process. The characters
comprising small text sizes were slightly
widened to accommodate ample
counters which resisted the tendency
to clog up, as well as reduced contrast to
ensure that the hairlines would not
break up. The display sizes, in turn,
were slightly narrower with more contrast,
yielding graceful and delicate features
which the letterpress process could only
maintain at the larger sizes.
This practice disappeared with the
introduction of photo type since it became
most efficient to simply scale a single
design to the various sizes as needed. Since
then, technical advancements, including
improvements in the printing process itself,
have made it less necessary to have size
specific design variations. However,
it does remain a necessity for the optimum
legibility of certain designs, such as
Bodoni, which were designed for different
manufacturing and printing processes
than those used today. In fact, the extreme
contrast problem of many Bodoni revivals
may be the result of choosing a display
size for the model, which subsequently
cause the hairlines to erode when reduced
to small text sizes.
Although the computer is capable of
addressing multiple size masters more
readily than photo type did, (Adobe’s
Multiple Master format can accommodate
this), optical scaling remains to be
added as a standard feature to the popular
font formats, and probably never will,
since most contemporary typefaces which
are designed for today’s technology
do not so critically demand such technical
wizardry.
Because Bodoni created so many
variations, many different Bodoni revivals
and interpretations are possible. However,
determining which most truly reflect
Bodoni’s work can be eternally debated.
Filosofia is my interpretation of a Bodoni.
It shows my personal preference for a
geometric Bodoni, while incorporating such
features as the slightly bulging round serif
endings which often appeared in printed
samples of Bodoni’s work and reflect
Bodoni’s origins in letterpress technology.
The Filosofia Regular family is designed
for text applications. It is somewhat rugged
with reduced contrast to withstand the
reduction to text sizes. The Filosofia Grand
family is intended for display applications
and is therefore more delicate and refined.
19
An additional variant, included in the
Grand package, is a Unicase version
which uses a single height for characters
that are otherwise separated into upper
and lower case. This is similar to
Bradbury Thompson’s Alphabet Twenty Six,
except that Thompson’s goal was to
create a text alphabet free of such
redundancies as the two different forms
which represent the character “a” or “A,”
whereas Filosofia Unicase does have
stylistic variants to provide flexibility for
headline use.
Zuzana Licko
 FILOSOFIA
This letter was sent to Massimo Vignelli in early May 2014, weeks before he
passed away. He died on May 27, 2014 in New York City.
In the new computer
Dear Massimo Vignelli,
We don’t know if you know this or not, but we’ve always been great
age the proliferation
of typefaces and
admirers of your work. That’s why your public dismissal of our work
in Print magazine at first was devastating to us. We were nobody, you HEADLINE
were Massimo Vignelli. Never mind all our posturing afterwards; we FILOSOFIA

type manipulations
GRAND BOLD
were hurt. 19 PT
But over time, we have come to realize that your critique was
INTRO
probably one of the most valuable replies to our work at the time. Not FILOSOFIA

represents a new level

because we’ve come to agree with you, and not because your critique REGULAR
9/10
of our work helped us define who we were more than any other
response to our work. LEAD-IN

of visual pollution
FILOSOFIA
No, your critique was valuable because it was a serious rebuttal. BOLD
You truly cared about these issues and you were not timid to speak SMALL CAPS
12/15 PT
your mind in public. You let us have it from both barrels. It was the

threatening our culture.

passion, the honesty, the bite, and the eloquence of your statements TEXT
FILOSOFIA
that we’ve always admired. We can only hope to maintain that level of REGULAR
passion for what we do. 10/12 PT

Out of thousands of
A few years after the Print affair, we buried the hatchet. We still QUOTE >
have the letter you sent us that starts off by saying “THE WAR IS OVER.” FILOSOFIA
ITALIC
It’s hanging on the wall in our office. You had sent it to us after we 32/36 PT

typefaces, all we need

invited you to collaborate on the Filosofia poster.
You really surprised us with your willingness and readiness to
design this poster for us. The invite was a long shot, but you were very

are a few basic ones,

gracious, and that gesture of acceptance of our work, in light of your
earlier dislike, blew us away. It made us feel like a million bucks.
Looking back, it’s funny to think of these disagreements as war.

and trash the rest.

But it speaks to the heated discussions within design that existed
in those days. Now we miss those days, and we long for people like
yourself who hold strong opinions and wield them like swords.
While we’ve never met in person, you made a big difference in
our lives. We will always be thankful for that.
Sincerely,
— Massimo Vignelli, 1991
Rudy VanderLans & Zuzana Licko

20 21
 FILOSOFIA

WHEN WE SELL TYPE TO PEOPLE, we rarely get to see what they do with
it. We don’t expect them to let us know, and they don’t feel obliged to
inform us. So it’s always a surprise when we run into our typefaces in
use. Bookstores are always a great place for surprising encounters.
These two book covers, using Filosofia Regular and Bold, are exam-
ples of standout surprises that makes designing type a very satisfying
endeavour. HEADLINE
FILOSOFIA
GRAND BOLD
19 PT

LEAD-IN
FILOSOFIA
BOLD
SMALL CAPS
10/12 PT

TEXT
FILOSOFIA
REGULAR
10/12 PT

CAPTIONS
FILOSOFIA
REGULAR
8/10 PT

Filasofia Regular on a book cover designed and illustrated by Keith Hayes for
Little, Brown & Company in 2014.

Filosofia Bold on a book cover designed by Kelly Blair for

Alfred A. Knopf in 2019.

22 23
 FILOSOFIA

THE COLOPHON, a brief statement containing information about the

publication of a book, is a courtesy to the craftsmen involved in the
making of books. Usually printed in the back of a book, it’s an old
custom that has largely disappeared from modern book publishing.
So imagine our delight when, in 2010, we were contacted by
Simon Winchester, The New York Times best-selling author of such
titles as The Professor, Krakatoa, and The Men Who United the States. He HEADLINE
FILOSOFIA
informed us that for his upcoming book, Atlantic, he had written “A GRAND BOLD
note on the type,” to be placed at the end of the text. 19 PT
He’d be most grateful, he wrote, if we could look briefly at it, to LEAD-IN
see if it is accurate. Not only was it accurate, it was probably the kind- FILOSOFIA
BOLD
est, most considerate, and accurate credit ever given to one of our SMALL CAPS
typefaces, or any typeface for that matter, by an author. 10/12 PT
Here’s what he wrote: TEXT
FILOSOFIA
REGULAR
10/12
THE TYPEFACE EMPLOYED throughout this book is a modern
LEAD-IN
interpretation of the classic eighteenth-century Didone FILOSOFIA
REGULAR
serif face Bodoni, and known as Filosofia. This was SMALL CAPS Atlantic, by Simon Winchester, HarperCollins Publishers, 2010.
12/16 PT Typography by Leah Carlson-Stanisic. Typeset in Filosofia.
created in 1996 by the Bratislava-born type designer
TEXT
Zuzana Licko, who with her Dutch-born partner Rudy FILOSOFIA
REGULAR
VanderLans astonished the typographic world during the 12/16 PT
closing decades of the 20th century with a whirlwind of

-
QUOTE >
FILOSOFIA
type design, largely occasioned by the invention of the ITALIC
16/18 PT
Macintosh computer in 1984. Filosofia, with its slightly
CAPTIONS >
bulging serifs and lighter-than-classical-Bodoni vertical FILOSOFIA “Colophons are reminders that books are bigger
REGULAR
lines, clearly owes much to one of the most beloved of all 8/10 PT
than their writers alone. They are the measured exhale
Italian faces, but is more amiable and less wearing to the
eyes when ranged over texts as lengthy and complex as
at the end of a satisfying experience. The sentence has
that of Atlantic. I am proud that this book’s designer felt end punctuation; the book has a colophon.”
— Nick Ripatrazone, The Millions ()
able to employ this wonderful new typeface, and applaud From the essay Praise the Colophon: Twenty Notes on Type, 2015.
with gratitude its most gifted creator. SW www.emigre.com/colophon

24 25
The Museo Bodoniano is
the oldest printing museum
in Italy. It was opened
in 1963, coinciding with

E /15:
the 150th anniversary of
the death of Giambattista
Bodoni, the Piedmontese

Readers read
typographer who made
Parma the world capital
of the press starting from
the second half of the

best what they

eighteenth century.
Among a wealth of
information about Bodoni,
the museum’s website
also features a type tester
that lets you compare a
number of interpretations
of Bodoni’s types from
various foundries including
read most.
Emigre’s Filosofia.
www.emigre.com/museo

E /44:
Design is
a good idea.
(Excerpts from the Emigre Manifesto) EMIGRE
CALIF.

Poster design for the Museo Bodoniano Foundation celebrating the 200th anniversary of the
publication of the Manuale Tipografico by Giambattista Bodoni. The assignment was to create,
in poster format, a manifesto about our design approach to typography. We never intended
to write any kind of manifesto, so these two quotes from the past are from a fictitious manifesto.
We still believe in those catchphrases though, and they look good when set in Filosofia.

26 27
 АБВГДЕЁЖЗ Anthropological
И Й КЛМ НОП Р MODERNISM
С Т У ФХ ЦЧШ economic indicators
Щ Ъ Ы Ь Э ЮЯ monotone
аб вгд еёж з kitchenette
ийклм нопр marie antoinette
Japanese film festival classics

с т у ф х ц чш
щъ ыьэюя moccasin
Unified School diStrict
Manifest Destiny
               (        ) The logical outcome of perseverance in art
The Cyrillic characters for Filosofia Regular, Italic and Bold were drawn
in 2005 by designer Gayaneh Bagdasaryan and ParaType, Inc.
For Filosofia Cyrillic and other Cyrillic Emigre fonts go to www.emigre.com/Cyrillic

28 29
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Copyright © 2019 Emigre, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
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Emigre, Emigre Fonts, and Filosofia are Trademarks of Emigre, Inc.

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